Drop Everything & Follow Me

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae

St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 21 Jan., 2017, Epiphany 3

Year B RCL: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1:14-20

Jesus says:

Drop everything & follow me.

Do we have the grace to do as the disciples do?

We see this grace in St. Francis, who “drops everything” to follow Jesus.

Our Psalm assures us: “Power belongs to God”. Despite God’s power, God will not force us to follow Jesus. Yet God’s steadfast love keeps reaching out to embrace us & every human.

We know the disciples drop everything immediately.

● No quibbling about dropping out of their business

  obligations, finding replacements for them to help Dad in

  the family business.

● No questions to Jesus about his people-fishing business:

   Are there paid vacations?

   A retirement account?

What a contrast our Gospel gives us to our lesson from Jonah! 

[Jonah was my “patron saint” for years as I prepared for ordination, having run from God's distinct call for about 25 years! So I admire the disciples who drop everything & immediately follow Jesus.]

Our 1^st lesson says: The Word of the Lord came to Jonah a 2^nd time. What do you remember of Jonah's 1^st time?

[Congregations' responses included: Flees in opposite direction. Big storm. Pagan sailors pray to Jonah’s God to save them. Jonah says: Throw me overboard. They do. A big fish swallows him & 3 days later vomits him out on the beach.]

Today we see this pig-headed prophet going through the motions. I wonder if he cries out the message in a monotone like this:

“40-days-more-and-Nineveh-is-overthrown...[Sigh].”

“40-days-more-and-Nineveh-is-overthrown...[Yawn].”

Whatever way he says it, the people hear, believe & respond immediately. What a contrast to Jonah!

Our scripture says Nineveh is exceedingly large. Sources say archaeologists have not found such a site but have found a site of a city about 3 miles long by 1½ miles wide.¹ More important than physical size is how Nineveh looms large over the peoples it oppresses in the 5^th century Before Christ. As Assyria’s capital, it is a huge force of pagan power.

One writer says: Nineveh is hated because the Assyrians have destroyed Israel’s Northern Kingdom, wrecked Judah’s towns, & ravaged all countries in the Near East.”²

Jonah’s pig-headedness reflects the attitude of many of his contemporaries, who just can’t see how God can possibly offer mercy to the wicked who cause so much suffering.³

In our times: Think ISIS. Think 911. Think Nazis.

God’s call to Jonah to warn his era’s Nazis of pending doom challenges Jonah & others like him who can’t see God’s forgiveness & mercy reaching out to people who have hurt them & are outside of God’s covenant.

Yet Nineveh & its people are part of God’s creation which God calls good, so they must have time to repent…⁴

In the book of Jonah, we see God’s love reaching out. As author Victor Matthews says⁵: We see a new perspective developing among people in Jonah’s day: They start to see their belief in one God means God is God of all, so even hated, brutal enemies can belong to God & must have the chance to hear God’s message of love, grace & repentance.

This perspective makes it possible for people in Jonah’s day & for us to pray for our enemies.

The book of Jonah shows us: “…simple justice is not God’s way; God remains free to be gracious to those who deserve nothing less than punishment.”⁶

It shows us how widely God’s mercy flows to embrace all the human family.

We express this in Morning Prayer in our Prayer for Mission [Book of Common Prayer, page 101, please join me in praying this]:

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.⁷

Like this prayer, our scriptures today assure us we can make a positive difference in the human family. Jonah’s story & our Gospel tell us: Do what God calls us/you to do & we/you serve God’s will for all.

Your Epiphany star word may guide you in discovering what God requires, wants of us/you & needs of us/you in 2018.
The message we have to share is simple:

God loves you.

No exceptions.

All are welcome.

Bibliography

The Book of Common Prayer. New York: The Church Hymnal Corp. And The Seabury Press. 1997.

Dios Habla Hoy: La Biblia. 2^da Ed. Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988.

Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.

Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.

Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. Inc. 2001.

The New American Bible for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Expanded Ed. Revised Stantard Version. Eds: Herbert G. May. Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University Press. 1977.

Portaro, Sam. Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Revised & Updated. Boston: Cowley Pulications. 2001.

1 Among sources: Harper’s Bible Commentary. P. 729. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. P. 1121.

2 Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. P. 163.

3 Ibid. Harper’s. P. 728.

4 Ibid. Matthews. P. 163.

5 Ibid. P. 167.

6 Ibid. Harper’s. P. 728.

7 Book of Common Prayer. P. 101.